Slidably mounted yarn support member for a knitting machine

ABSTRACT

Apparatus to adjustably support a yarn tension control between a knitting machine and the yarn creel which is supplying yarn to the knitting machine. The yarn tension control is mounted in a support bracket which has a body portion to accommodate the tension control and a lip and body portion to adjustably mount the bracket in the yarn creel.

United States Patent 11 1 McCullough 1451 Sept. 16, 1975 1 1 SLIDABLYMOUNTED YARN SUPPORT MEMBER FOR A KNITTING MACHINE [75] Inventor: RobertW. McCullough,

Spartanburg, SC.

[73] Assignee: Deering Milliken Research I Corporation, Spartanburg, SC.

[22] Filed: Oct. 3, I973 [21] Appl. No.: 403,174

[52] U.S. CI 66/125 R; 242/131; 242/151; 248/221; 66/146 [51] Int.15/48; D04B 27/10; B65H 49/02;F16M 13/02 [58] Field of Search 66/125 R,132 R, 146; 248/221; 242/140, 147 R, 157 R, 131, 131.1, 152.1

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,785,987 12/1930 Stewart242/152.1 3,162,409 12/1964 Straayer et al..... 248/221 UX 3,391,8897/1968 Stewart, Jr 248/221 3,520,493 7/1970 Carroll 242/151 R 3,568,9513/1971 Neuburgcr 248/131 3,696,233 10/1972 Pulsifcr 248/221 3,762,18510/1973 Schmidt et a1. 66/125 R 3,848,829 11/1974 Womer 4. 242/131FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 1,400,561 4/1965 France 248/221 401,43712/1922 Germany 242/131 709,295 5/1954 United Kingdom. 242/131 1,172,0066/1964 Germany 66/125 R Primary ExaminerW. C. Reynolds AssistantExaminer-Andrew M. Falik Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Ear1e R. Marden; H.William Petry" [57 ABSTRACT Apparatus to adjustably support a yarntension control between a knitting machine and the yarn creel which issupplying yarn to the knitting machine. The yarn tension control ismounted in a support bracket which has a body portion to accommodate thetension control and a lip and body portion to adjustably mount thebracket in the yarn creel.

2 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures SLIDABLY MOUNTED YARN SUPPORT MEMBER FOR AKNITTING MACHINE The main object of this invention is to provide a newand efficient mounting bracket for a yarn guide and/or yarn tensioncontrol which can be vertically adjusted in very small increments ofmovement to provide the proper yarn take-off angle from the yarn supplypackage.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become readilyapparent as the specification proceeds to describe the invention withreference to the accom panying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a yarn creel supplying yarn to a knittingmachine;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the new and improved yarn tensioncontrol mounted in operating position; and

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the new support bracket per se.

Looking now to FIG. 1, a typical knitting machine arrangement is shownwherein a plurality of yarns l supplied from packages 12 is suppliedfrom an off-side creel 14 to the circular knitting machine 16 whereatthe yarn is knit into a fabric 18. The yarn from the packages 12 to theknitting machine 18 passes successively through the tension control 20,mounted on the support bracket 22, and the stop motion 24 to stop theknitting machine 18 in case of a yarn break.

The creel 14 has a plurality of vertical bars 26 at the rear which havea plurality of projections 28 connected thereto to support the yarnpackages 12 and a plurality of vertical angle iron supports 30 at thefront to which are slidably mounted to the support bracket 22. Thetension control member can be of any commercially available type such asshown in FIG. 2 and described in US. Pat. No. 3,753,535. The verticalbars tend to collect substantially less lint than the previously usedhorizontal bars.

The support bracket 22 is preferably a one piece molded cast orfabricated member which has an elongated body portion 32, a stop portion34 substantially perpendicular to the body portion 32 at one endthereof, a lip portion 36 connected to the body portion and projectingtoward the stop portion 34, a thickened portion 38 at the other end ofthe body portion 32 to support the tension control member 20 and aprojection 40 projecting outwardly from the thickened portion 38 forreasons hereinafter explained.

The support member 22 is slidably mounted on the angle member with thestop portion 34 engaging the outside of the angle iron member 30 and thelip portion 36 engaging the inside of angle member 30. From 5 FIGS. 2and 3 it can be seen that the stop portion 34 and lip portion 36 providefor frictional engagement with the angle member 30. The tension control20 is connected to the thickened portion 38 by suitable means, such asscrew 42, which engages the mounting means 44 of the tension control 20and passes into the opening 46 of the support member 22. The supportmember 22 can be slid upwardly or downwardly on the angle iron member 30to correctly position it in relation to the yarn package to obtainoptimum running conditions.

If it is desired to eliminate the use of the tension control 20, aceramic guide member (not shown) can be inserted in the opening 48 ofthe projection and the yarn can be run directly into the guide member inthe opening 48 and upwardly to the stop motion 24 and then the knittingmachine.

It can be seen that I have provided a simple compact yarn support and/orguide member which can be readily made and can be easily adjusted forchanging yarn conditions.

Although I have described in detail the preferred embodiments of myinvention, I contemplate that many changes may be made without departingfrom the scope or spirit of my invention, and I desire to be limitedonly by the scope of the claims.

That which is claimed is:

1. In combination with a knitting machine and a creel supplying yarn tothe-knitting machine, said creel having a plurality of upright supportmembers, the im provement comprising: yarn support members slidablymounted on each of said upright support members on said creel, said yarnsupport members including a body portion, a stop portion adjacent oneend of said body portion, said stop portion being substantiallyperpendicular to said body portion, a lip portion connected to said bodyportion and extending toward said stop portion and an enlarged portionconnected to said body portion adjacent the other end thereof having anopening therein to receive a connecting member.

2. The combination of claim 1 wherein a flange portion is connected tosaid enlarged portion having an opening therein adapted to receive ayarn guide.

1. In combination with a knitting machine and a creel supplying yarn tothe knitting machine, said creel having a plurality of upright supportmembers, the improvement comprising: yarn support members slidablymounted on each of said upright support members on said creel, said yarnsupport members including a body portion, a stop portion adjacent oneend of said body portion, said stop portion being substantiallyperpendicular to said body portion, a lip portion connected to said bodyportion and extending toward said stop portion and an enlarged portionconnected to said body portion adjacent the other end thereof having anopening therein to receive a connecting member.
 2. The combination ofclaim 1 wherein a flange portion is connected to said enlarged portionhaving an opening therein adapted to receive a yarn guide.